In image processing, basic morphological operations include dilation and erosion operations. Dilation operations today are limited to adding whole pixels to extend the boundaries of shapes and objects within an image. Conversely, erosion operations today are limited to removing whole pixels to reduce the boundaries of shapes and objects within an image. The number of whole pixels added or removed by a morphological operation depends on the size and shape of a structuring element or window used to process the image. For any given pixel in an image, dilation and erosion operations consider the values of neighboring pixels to determine if the value of the given pixel is to be changed. Dilation and erosion operations can provide desired enhancements to an image such as, for example, removing noise from the image, isolating individual objects in an image, joining disparate objects in an image, and finding intensity bumps or holes in an image.